Impact 20/20: Day at the Capitol 2018

By -
L to R: Tim Flathers, Missy Okeson, Nancy Vyskocil,
Mike St. Onge, Karen White, and Craig Nathan
Members of IMPACT 20/20 recently spent the day at the State Capitol engaging lawmakers about the issues impacting economic prosperity and growth in Northwest Minnesota.

IMPACT 20/20 is an influential group of Northwest Minnesota leaders representing diverse interests and working together for the region’s economic success. Established in 2008, IMPACT 20/20 members have worked collaboratively to improve economic conditions in the region by focusing on four key areas: education, workforce, broadband, and housing. The goal of the visit was to highlight issues in these key areas and offer legislative solutions to help grow the economy of Northwest Minnesota.

IMPACT 20/20 raised awareness and discussed policy statements around access to high speed broadband and its importance in rural communities, the critical shortage of child care in our region and the impact it is having on families and employers, ideas to spur workforce and affordable housing projects in our region, and ideas to provide better access to career advising for our region’s high school students.

“The IMPACT 20/20 members had a very productive day speaking with the region’s representatives, senators, and chairs of sub-committees,” said Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s Vice President for Programs, Karen White. “It’s important we raise awareness and offer legislative solutions that will help our region grow.”

For more information about IMPACT 20/20’s policy initiatives, you can request a copy of the 2018 Economic Priorities booklet that was provided to legislators by contacting Kari at karic@nwmf.org or calling 218-759-2057. The booklet may also be accessed online via this link.

We encourage you to reach out to your representatives and let them know these issues are important to you and our region! To find your legislators and their contact information, follow this link.

Senator Mark Johnson (left) with Nancy Vyskocil,
Kari Cooper and Dennis Bona.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frank and Marg Marvin

By -
Image
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November. Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.  If you are interested in making a difference through the services of our community foundation, our development officers would be happy to assist you. Please contact Caryl Turnow or Lisa Peterson at 218-759-2057 to learn more. Frank and Marg Marvin, Warroad The year is 1931 and a frustrated Dorrance Johnston has a degree in Engineering with no jobs to be found. Persistent and not willing to give up, he offered to work for a year without pay just to get a foot in the door. This is a mere glimpse at who Margaret “Marg” (Johnston) Marvin’s father was. Marg was born and raised in Warroad, and then met her husband Frank Marvin in their shared hometown. Both of their f
Read more

NMF Working to Address the Region's Child Care Needs

By -
Image
Ensuring families have access to quality child care is a high priority task for NMF. Our region has the third largest deficit for child care needs in the state. We are faced with 41% of families not having access to child care spots for their children. This means 41% of families are struggling to find safe and affordable child care for their children so they can go to work. The Center for Rural Policy and Development recently published a fact sheet that provides insight on this issue. The main barriers that they pointed out were the following: Until more can be done to increase wages and/or profits for both center and family providers, the child care shortage will continue Low pay for workforce makes recruitment and retention a major hurdle. Providers feel they can't raise rates because parents can't afford to pay more. Under this scenario, providers can't make a profit or be sustainable. The high startup costs make for very high barriers to entry for the av
Read more

Peacemaker Resources Paves the Way for Lifelong Learning in the Classroom

By -
Image
(Left to right) Caige Jambor, Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, and Stacy Bender-Fayette, SEL Specialists at Peacemaker Resources, work together to plan the upcoming school year. The mission of  Peacemaker Resources  is to "foster communication, compassion and connection leading to respectful relationships and healthier individuals and communities" and they achieve this by bringing their  social emotional learning  curriculum to elementary and middle schools around the state. They were also a recipient of the  NMF Quality of Place award in 2016 .  What makes their curriculum distinctive?   Barb   Houg, Executive Director, says,  " Its preventative approach, its relevance for children of all ages, and its lifelong impact." The curriculum that Peacemaker Resources is bringing into schools includes a number of programs -  STAR (Students Teaching Attitudes of Respect) ,  Girls Lead ,  Cultural Responsiveness ,  SEL (Social Emotional Learning) ,  Mindfulness , and  Tr
Read more